If you're looking for step by step instructions this is the place to go

Here is a document produced by the wiki people. You may find it more or less useful than instructions listed below.

Creating a wiki account

1. Go to www.wikispaces.com
2. In the "Get Started" box select a unique username, password and email.
   • You can leave "Make a Wiki" checked as no for now
   • Follow the prompts if there are errors with step 2
3. Once you are logged in you'll be looking at your account page which has 3 tabs
   • The dashboard shows you everything all at once that you have going on
   • The mail tab is self explanatory
   • The settings tab lets you edit your account
4. Take a look at the settings tab in order to change your email or password.
   • I would make sure the email alert settings are the way you want them. In most circumstances you'll want to know when kids post or change things on the wiki so make the appropriate changes. Use the following file to see a sample email set-up. acct_settings.jpg
5. When you make a wiki, you have options for privacy: "Protected" is recommended. Keep in mind that educators can use these settings for free.
   • PublicEveryone, including anonymous visitors, can view and edit pages. Allows message posts from non-members.
   • ProtectedEveryone can view pages, but only members of this wiki can edit pages. Allows message posts from non-members.
   • PrivateOnly members of this wiki can view and edit pages.
   • CustomDefine custom permissions
     • Under MANAGE WIKI, you can also customize the privacy settings by using the dropdown lists to regulate who can view, edit, create and post to discussions

Creating a wiki to use in your classroom

So far, the uses of a wiki in the classroom seem limitless. A wiki is a great way to save paper, easily collect homework and teach students new ways to collaborate via technology. Here is a list of potential uses.

1. A place to store documents such as PowerPoints and assignments, so that students can have access to work they missed or need for studying. You can also make a calendar.
2. A forum for discussions outside of class, to either follow up on classroom discussions or to spark new dialogues among interested students. These can be organized as an assignment or spontaneously generated by students themselves.
3. A way to submit work such as essays, opinion papers or other creative expressions for peer reflection and evaluation
4. A common ground for students to complete projects together. For instance, instead of making printouts for online research or collaborative writing, students pairs or groups can use a wiki to store and plan research together.
5. A forum for students to study. By monitoring their study habits, you can provide additional help and encourage them to help each other. It is an easy way to expand "office hours".
6. Example
   • Homework: whether mandatory or extra credit (most students have at-home internet access, and access to the computers at school) is to have the students read a supplemental work, view a video, listen to a podcast, etc that you could post. You could require them to post a three-sentence response or opinion....in later assignments, when they are comfortable with the wiki, you could require them to write responses or questions to each other's comments.

Managing your Wiki

The "Manage Wiki" tab allows you to manage the following aspects of your wiki. Click on the button below for a sample of that tab. Once you create your wiki, you can play around with the different settings. Below is a list of the more helpful sections.

1. Subscription - You'll want to upgrade your subscription to "Plus" as soon as you create a wiki. Notice this is a complimentary offer for K-12 use but you must request it.
2. Content - For example, under Files, you can upload files to eventually upload to the wiki.
3. People - Here you manage who are the members of the wiki, including people who are waiting to be accepted. You can invite others to the wiki.
4. Pages - Can be renamed, deleted and/or locked if there is content you want to keep the students from editing
5. Settings - Under "Look and Feel" you can change the layout and colors of the wiki
6. Tools - The Notifications tab is one of the most interesting tabs. If you click on the orange box labeled RSS (especially for Discussions Only) you can have new posts delivered directly to your email. Note that no one can see your email address; the emails are sent directly to you from wikispaces.com and only show each post. The alternative is to Monitor the wiki
7. Permissions - See the instructions under "Creating a Wiki account" to manage this
8. Delete - Any wiki you create can be permanently deleted under the Tools section. However, the wiki url can never be used again.

Creating wiki accounts for your students

Use this to avoid waiting for students to create their own accounts and/or loosing the information

1. See "Managing You Wiki" to find out how to upgrade your wiki to "Private" for free
2. Once you receive notification your wiki has been approved via email, a "User Creator" option will show up in the "People" section under managing your wiki
3. After clicking on "User Creator" select the wiki to which you want to add members and how you plan to do so
   • Putting the usernames and password in two columns in an excel spreadsheet is probably easiest
4. After selecting the file follow the on screen directions to ensure wikispaces labels the usernames and password correctly
   • Note the passwords need to be six characters and all usernames need to be unique
5. After finalizing you'll get an email confirm what you've created (it's not a bad idea to print out the email to save the information)

"Page Include" - inserts content from one page automatically into another

When to embed one page on another

• If you've created two wikis and want the same stuff to show up on pages in the two separate wikis
• If you have 5 sections of the same class and don't want to update 5 pages separately
• If you have 5 sections of the same class and want to "grade" or look at pages they've created on separate wikis all at once.
• Use the widget tool and select "Contents of a Wiki" and select the page you want to "embed"
• I'm going to use the widget tool to insert the "home" page for this wiki right here between the two lines

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Welcome to the Timber Creek Educators Wiki!

Getting Started

• Click hereif you're still not quite sure what a wiki is for a helpful explanation. If that doesn't work try this one.
  • Wikis for Everyone - Wikispaces.mht - here is a screen shot of what wiki has to offer
• Click here to get step by step instructions on a number of items
• Click here to get help editing a wiki page you've already created
• Notice any page we create on this wiki will appear in a list on the navigation pane to the left
• Click on the discussion tab on any page to start a discussion or ask a question about the content you find

Need Help?

• Just call or email Elliott or David...especially if you see a typo or other errors on this site:)
• Here are some helpful links to other "How To" wikis and help pages designed by the Wiki people and/or regular Joes
  • Wiki tricks & tips
  • Cool Toosl for Schools
  • Teacher Help Page
  • EducationalWikis Wiki
  • Wiki K-12 information
• If you click on "Help" at the top of this page beside the "Sign Out" link you'll find a lot of material already posted
• If none of the above work, click Support to fill out a form to get help from a wiki expert!

Bonus

• If you become a member of this wiki you will be able to edit content on any page or see what we did to produce what you see.
  • To request membership, simply click on the "join this wiki" link above the search window.
• Click on the WikiDoodle link here or in the navigation bar to the left and have fun. Please try to leave the other pages alone as others may plan on using them as a resource. Thanks.

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• Note that you could add the actual html code for this process yourself. Since actually posting the code here would do that or confuse the crazy out of the workshop page here is a document with the specific instructions if you want to try it without the widget

Inserting Media into your discussion pages

You're doing great putting pictures and videos on regular pages but what about discussions?

1. Create a new page in your wiki.
2. Upload your picture or audio file onto that page in the normal way. Don't save yet.
3. Click the text editor button on the tool bar so you can see the wiki text. Copy it.
4. Save your page.
5. Go to discussion tab, type your heading into the subject line and paste the wiki text into the message box and save.
6. Now when you click on your discussion you will see your picture or your audio file.
7. For video files, upload your video to Youtube, Teachertube, Schooltube etc, and get the embed code. Use the embed widget in the normal way. Once loaded, switch to text editor view and copy the text. Paste this text into the discussion box as above.